Understanding Visual Information Processing for American vs. Saudi Arabian Users

Abstract

Cultural differences may affect user experiences in many different ways. This may range from having to adapt to different data formats to understanding novel directions of reading and writing. Analyzing data presented in various forms are crucial for both information assimilation and dissemination. Different information presentation methods can substantially affect task performances. To date, limited research has been reported that investigates how users from different cultural backgrounds respond to various information presentation methods while conducting visual information processing tasks. To fill in that gap, we conducted an experiment to better understand the relationship between American and Saudi Arabian users when interacting with different information presentation methods in the context of visual information processing. The specific information presentation methods investigated in the study are textual presentation, graphical presentation, and tabular presentation. The results suggest that information representation has significant impact on task efficiency for both groups of participants. However, information representation only affected the answer quality of the American group.